FYI, I am posting this bulletin to my list on EcoNet, to which sanet-mg
is subscribed. My apologies for duplication. I simply ask you to hit
the delete key. No other way to do it and get both audiences. Sorry.
Thanks.
Michelle Thom, IATP
************************************************************************
1994 INTERNATIONAL SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY WEEK
People's Participation in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development
October 23 - 29, 1994 Washington, DC
************************************************************************
BULLETIN No. 2
************************************************************************
November 2, 1994
HISTORY AND FUTURE OF FAO
On UN Day, October 24th, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
organized a seminar on the history and future of the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO). This gathering, which featured founders
and early leaders of FAO plus current leaders, provided an overview of
the historical circumstances surrounding the founding of the FAO,
explored relations between the US government and FAO, and looked at
potentials directions for the future.
Dr. Ralph Phillips, former Deputy Director-General of the FAO, described
the evolution of the FAO which began with a U.N. Conference on Food and
Agriculture in Hot Springs, Virginia, in 1943. Juan Felipe Yriart,
founder and former Assistant Director-General, followed and emphasized
that "the FAO always has looked for equity," and that "the question of
food security is an everyday subject at FAO.
Roger Sorenson, former U.S. Representative to FAO and Director of the
FAO office in Washington, DC, began by saying that relations between
the U.S. and the FAO are "not good...difficult, if not strained." He
explained that the U.S. has only supported the FAO two out of the past
19 years. The U.S. is the only industrialized country that is in
arrears and now owes the FAO $80 million in back payments. This is more
back payments than all other member countries combined.
Mr. Sorenson recommended that the U.S. reduce its share of the FAO
international budget, which is currently 25%. However, Congress doesn't
want to do that because they want control and leverage over FAO. Roger
argued that lowering the U.S. share would reduce tension between
Congress and the FAO.
Wayne Denney, International Relations Advisor, USDA, Foreign
Agricultural Service, International Organization Affairs Division,
pointed out that the U.S. opinion of the FAO was not uniform, but that
the adversarial relationship between the U.S. and FAO was "starting to
heal." He concluded by saying, "We encourage activities relating to
follow-up to the GATT accord. Mr. Denney suggested FAO could do several
things in this regard:
1) Strengthen activities of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the
Secretariat for the International Plant Protection Convention;
2) Establish a food quality and pesticide reference center in Vienna as
the basis for scientifically testing pesticide residues;
3) Develop a closer partnership with the New World Trade Organization;
and,
4) Conduct analyses of the implications of the GATT agreement on
developing countries.
One of the most important developments in this seminar was a question
from the audience concerning the possibility that the upcoming world
food security summit scheduled for March of 1996 and organized by FAO,
could be used as opportunity to examine the current structure and
relations between all of the various multilateral agencies dealing with
agriculture issues (FAO, UNDP, IFAD, WTO, CGIAR, the World Bank etc.) to
ensure that these institutions are prepared to serve our needs into the
future.
This question prompted an informal planning discussion which surfaced
the following ideas:
First, it was recognized that there are a number of pivotal events
coming up over the next year and a half that could be stepping stones or
key moments in a campaign to re-energize public support for global
cooperation on agriculture and food issues. The following is just a
partial list of already planned or suggested related events:
1995 EVENTS
January 25: US World Food Day Annual Meeting, Washington DC
March: Social Summit, Copenhagen
April: Commission on Sustainable Development, New York
(focus on SARD and related chapters)
June 20-24: Major NGO conference to mark the UN's 50th
Anniversary, San Francisco
July: Regional Latin American SARD conference,
Venezuela
Aug 30-Sept 8: Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing
October: North American NGO meeting, Quebec City
October 11-13: Conference to mark 50th Anniversary of FAO,
Quebec City
October 14-16: FAO Ministerial Meeting on World Food Security,
Quebec City
October 16: Special FAO 50th observance and World Food Day, with
the theme "food for all"
1996 EVENTS
January: World Food Day Annual Meeting, in Washington DC
March: World Summit on Food Security, in Rome
Also discussed as a follow up to the meeting is the need to develop a
vision of the future, of the kind of world we want to live in, and how
the UN, specifically the FAO and other food related agencies, can help
us create this kind of world. This vision would include the re-shaping
of the FAO and of the NGOs that work in this area to maximize future
cooperation and collaboration. This vision could be put into a booklet
and distributed through the Food Day network and other networks as well
in an organized effort to get these ideas developed adopted at the 1996
world summit.
_______________________________________________________________________
>>IMPORTANT REMINDER:
One major goals of International Sustainable Agriculture and Food
Security Week is to acknowledge and strengthen people's participation in
the preparation for detailed review of national and international
agriculture and land management policies and programs by the United
Nations Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) in April, 1995. If
you or your group have been working to prepare or comment upon reports
to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development related to
sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD) or the role of
farmers (chapters 14 and 32 of Agenda 21), you are invited to send
written information about your process or draft documents by post, email
or fax to the address below. The best method of sending is by email. Any
documents received will be listed in later bulletins. Send any material
to:
Linda Elswick, World Sustainable Agriculture Association, 2025 I Street,
Suite 512, Washington, DC 20006 USA, tel. +1 (202) 293-2155, fax. +1
(202) 293-2209, Email: wsaa@igc.apc.org
***********************************************************************
These bulletins provide coverage of events during INTERNATIONAL
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY WEEK and International
Center's Week (ICW) at the World Bank. This bulletin was produced by:
Nathan Boone, Community Farm Alliance, Sonia Schmitz, Institute for
Social Ecology, Thomas Forster, NGO Working Group on Sustainable
Agriculture, Rachna Sachasinh, Institute for Social Ecology, Michelle
Thom, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and Sandra McDougall,
New Agriculture and Ecology Network. For further information or to
receive the bulletins, contact Thomas Forster, Email:
tforster@igc.apc.org.